Ceremony marks Florence Street fire

Fire Lt. AnnMarie Pickett turns 49 on Sunday, the first day of daylight saving time, and she asked Worcester residents Thursday for a very special birthday present.

“When you push your clocks ahead an hour, check the batteries on your home smoke detectors,” said Lt. Pickett, the department’s first female firefighter, who works in the Public Education and Risk Reduction Unit.

Lt. Pickett, who takes every opportunity she can to educate adults and children alike on ways to prevent fires, Thursday was awarded the Eagle Public Safety Award by the Main South Alliance for Public Safety during the crime watch group’s annual memorial for people killed in fires in Worcester.

The group meets every March 7 at a stone monument at Main and Agawam streets that is inscribed with the names of all those who perished in Worcester blazes since 1986.

Especially remembered are the deaths on March 7, 1990, of 28-year-old Ethel Baisden and her three children, Francis, 3 years old; David, 23 months old; and Paul, 7 months.

The family died when flames ripped through their first-floor apartment at 21 Florence St. Fire officials believe the blaze started when Paul’s crib blanket was ignited by a gas space heater.

The fire resulted in tougher codes that many believe have cut the number of fires in the city.

There were no fire deaths in Worcester in 2012, the city’s third year without a fatality since 1986.

William T. Breault, chairman of the Main South safety alliance, said it was remarkable the city had no fire deaths in three of the last 26 years, given Worcester’s population of about 181,000.

“Hopefully, (2012) will start a new string” of no fire deaths, said state Sen. Michael O. Moore.

The Main South Alliance for Public Safety applauded Lt. Pickett and other members of the Worcester Fire Department for their educational outreach to the community.

Fire Chief Gerard A. Dio said informational efforts are relatively new initiatives being undertaken by fire departments across the nation. He said Lt. Pickett has been attending training sessions and making contact with other fire educators nationwide for some time.

Lt. Pickett, who followed the career path of her father, James, comes from a family of firefighters. Her uncle was a deputy fire chief and her uncle served as a captain.

Lt. Pickett, who was a paramedic for 20 years with UMass Memorial Emergency Medical Services and an EMS instructor for first responders before joining the Fire Department, has served on Ladder 6 and Engine Companies 2, 13 and 15.

She told those attending Thursday’s event that it’s important to hold on to the stories of those who have died.

But Lt. Pickett cautioned that no matter how much outreach is provided, it’s still up to the public to prevent fires.

Officials who spoke at the program said significant progress has been made in reducing the number of fires in the city. For example, John L. Foley, the assistant to the president at Clark University and a Worcester School Committee member, said that many years ago, there’d be at least one fire a week in Main South.

Much of the reduction was credited to the Fire Department.

“They’re with us 24-7,” said City Manager Michael V. O’Brien.

In addition, officials said, the Fire Department’s work has been bolstered by other factors.

For example, state Rep. John J. Binienda, the dean of Worcester’s delegation on Beacon Hill, said the efforts of the Main South Community Development Corp. in rehabilitating or constructing housing stock have helped.

State Rep. Mary S. Keefe added that quick action in pinpointing trends in arson, such as with fires that recently occurred in the Piedmont Street and Pleasant Street neighborhood that she represents, also helps save lives.

She noted that fires in inner-city neighborhoods blossom in bad economic times when poor families seek cheap and sometimes dangerous ways to heat their homes.

J. Stephen Teasdale, executive director of the Main South CDC, said laws such as those requiring hard-wired detectors in some residences and self-extinguishing cigarettes have also helped.

District 4 City Councilor Sarai Rivera, citing the biblical passage “My people perish for lack of knowledge,” added that fire prevention programs educate the public, leading to fewer fires and fewer deaths.

There are 50 names on the Main South fire deaths monument, including those of the six firefighters who died in the Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse building fire in 1999, and Firefighter Jon D. Davies Sr., who perished battling a three-decker fire on Arlington Street in 2011.

M. Casey Starr, the organizer at the Main South CDC, said that events such as the annual fire memorial help communities heal.

State Rep. John P. Fresolo noted that fires can devastate families. For example, he said, his family was deeply affected when his cousin, Michael, died 10 years ago in the deadly fire that leveled The Station nightclub in West Warwick, R.I. Mr. Fresolo’s cousin, who lived in his mother’s three-decker on Jefferson Street on Worcester’s Vernon Hill, left a 3-year-old child and a newborn.